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Suicide – My Story of Hope
Suicide - My Story of Hope This is not a part of my story that I have shared often. This is not because I am ashamed that I struggled, as I believe struggles can make us stronger if we let them, but because my life is so different now. That part of my life feels like a time and experience that happened to someone else. However, I feel prompted to share this given the recent, horrifying run of suicides in our nation, and our world. My prayer is that my story gives someone who reads it HOPE! A hope that although life may feel hopeless, it absolutely doesn’t need…
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Lessons from the Trenches
Lessons from the Trenches Four key steps when marriage gets tough. All marriages go through difficult seasons, where the feelings of love are harder to find. But sometimes things can get extra tough! One of you may have admitted to an affair, or woken up one day feeling like the love has gone. Or perhaps you are spending increasing amounts of your time together arguing or ignoring each other. It is at this point that we all have a choice to make: will we get out of the marriage and move on to perceived “greener pastures”, or will we get stuck in and fight. They say that anything in…
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What Is He Thinking?! – Sex
What Is He Thinking?!? - I feel like he just wants sex all the time! God designed men and women differently. We were made with different body parts, different needs, different strengths and weaknesses and, different ways of thinking about things. For some reason, God also thought it was a good idea to make men think very differently than women about sex.
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Side By Side
Side By Side 5 Reasons Community is Vital for your Marriage When God created the world, He designed us to be in relationship with other people. We were made in the image of God and, like the Trinity, we too thrive in community. It not only helps alleviate our loneliness but also teaches us and enables us to grow. In Proverbs 27:17 it says “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” This means that when we spend time around other people, God uses them to soften our rough edges. In community we learn to be less self-focused, and to improve our communication and people skills. Many…
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What Is He Thinking? – Arguements
What Is He Thinking?!? - When he gets angry at what I said, but I have no idea why. ANSWER: It’s likely he feels you were disrespectful.
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Fan That Flame
Fan That Flame - 3 Ideas for Keeping the Flame of Intimacy Burning. I am sure that when you first started dating your spouse, spending time together was something you both couldn’t wait to do. You longed to be with them, you thought about them all the time, you often sent them cute messages, and when you finally saw them again you felt excitement and butterflies. We know that this initial intensity of feeling can’t last, life gets busy and we can get bogged down by the stresses and pressures that come our way. With more than 50% of marriages failing and many others living in unhappy, unfulfilling relationships,…
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Moneytalks
Money Talks - 4 Foundations for Financial Success Everybody has heard the old adage, “Money doesn’t grow on trees”. Your parents probably said it to you many times as a child and you likely rolled your eyes in response. But, the older you get, the more you realise how true the statement really is. It often feels like the more money you earn the more you need, and it can certainly be a difficult process figuring out how to balance providing for your family while not making money an idol in your life. Unfortunately, though, money is a “necessary evil” in today's society, and given the emotions and…
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A Cityscape Date
A Great Way to Keep Costs Down and Still Feel Like You've Had a Break Working on your friendship and making special memories as a couple is so significant for keeping love and passion in your marriage alive. According to relationship expert, and author of The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, Dr. John Gottman - happy marriages are based on a deep friendship. With long-term vitality and connection being maintained through moments of intentional friendship that are woven throughout the course of the relationship. Weekly, or fortnightly, Date Nights are a great way to carve out regular time together in busy schedules in which to work on maintaining and growing…
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Let’s talk about sex
Let’s talk about sex baby! 4 tips for discussing sex with your spouse Sex, an intimate and beautiful act designed by God, but often presented in today's culture in crass and graphic ways. It is regularly shied away from in the church arena and can even be talked about as dirty or bad. Given the many mixed messages we receive about sex, it is no wonder that most couples struggle to talk about it. Sex is an awkward topic. There is so much emotion attached to it and it’s something most of us have had very little healthy education about. It is likely your parents struggled to have the “Birds…
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It’s Puzzling – A Puzzle Date Night
Date Night Idea Life is busy. Whether you are enjoying the benefits of just being a couple, or you’ve been blessed with additions to your family, there are constantly “important” things that crop up in life. These things can end up keeping us from spending focused time with our spouse if we let them. Time when we can enjoy each other's company while doing something fun together. According to John Gottman (a scientist, who has studied couples and marriage relationships for over 40 years), there are a number of key things that couples with happy and healthy marriages have in common, 7 of them to be precise. The first three…
